


The queen of that one

by TheBlazeCal



Series: Finished Spideypool stories [35]
Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, M/M, drag queen!Wade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-29 00:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8468836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlazeCal/pseuds/TheBlazeCal
Summary: When MJ asks a favor, Peter can hardly say no, so when that favor is being the photographer for a drag queen show Peter reluctantly goes along with it. But MJ has a surprise planned just for him...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DracoAries](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DracoAries/gifts).



> Commission for my buddy DracoAries, it took forever to write!

Peter Parker had no idea how MJ had talked him into this. Well guilt-ed was more appropriate - the rising actress had a friend who ran this gay bar, they had a big drag queen contest and last minute the photographer had canceled on them.

MJ had talked him into going along so he could document the evening for the bar and their clients; they would both get free drinks all evening if he agreed, and of course MJ would be happy, because that's what friends were for, right - doing each other favors.

MJ had been extremely excited about the entire thing and had insisted on picking out his outfit for him and everything, so he would fit in. So he ended up dressed in the only pair of skinny jeans he owned, a tight white shirt and a loose black button down over it. Peter admitted he really did look ready for a night in the town, wearing her selection. 

So here he was, sitting at a front seat near the stage with his backpack half unloaded on the table, prepping his camera in the best setup for the event. Meanwhile, in the backroom, the stars of the night were preparing themselves for a contest with a small cash prize, a mystery gift, and a title they all wanted “Queen of That One”, That One being the name of the bar, which had been named as lazily as the store, which was literally called The Store.

The queens entered the stage, all together at first, and Peter stood up, walking around as he shot pictures of them. He had to admire these performers; they looked amazing, and some of them were so feminine he wouldn't have guessed they were drag artists. Others clearly had a masculine build, but they wore themselves with such pride and such elegance that he could feel nothing but respect for them.  

Peter let his gaze hang on the last drag queen on the stage, who had clothed themselves in a flashy red dress that covered pretty much their entire body, although the fabric was slightly see-through in some places. He could see some glistening patches on the artist’s skin, and recognized them as burn scars, which seemed to cover a lot of the drag artists body, from what he could see.

The artist that had attracted his attention looked just as comfortable as the others, but he had been around enough models for MJ’s shoots to know when someone was feeling nervous on stage. It took quite some guts to do a show like this, at least in Peter’s eyes anyway. He was pretty sure he would never be able to - the one time MJ had convinced him to wear a dress for a theme party Peter had almost died from how uncomfortable he had felt. 

Peter made sure to take pictures in flattering angles of all the queens before they left the stage, the crowd was loaded with anticipation for the contest and the queens didn’t disappoint, showing of their dresses and doing their shows, all of them impressive in their own way. 

The performer with the scars came last, and now that they had come on center stage Peter could get a proper view of the shiny spots on their neck, especially when their blond long wig shifted. He also took note of the fact that they were wearing a lot of concealer on their face. They still seemed very sure of themselves, apart from those nervous blue eyes. Coming last was always the hardest, you had expectations to live up to that the early performers wouldn’t have had. One thing was for sure, though - this performer did not disappoint. 

They were singing an obviously self-written song with their deep raspy voice, flamboyant and incredibly confident once they got into it. The room went quiet.

Peter could see all the doubt fade from their eyes. He barely even realized he was taking pictures anymore, working on auto pilot as he admired the graceful way they moved while singing. It felt as natural as all the other times he had done photoshoots with MJ. 

He didn’t even notice MJ grinning at his back, her friend, who ran the club, sitting next to her; if he had been paying attention he would have heard them whisper about the prize. Instead Peter was so focused on documenting the show that he probably wouldn't have noticed if Lady Gaga WAS dancing next to him.

The performers returned to the backroom while the jury struggled to decide on the winner. Peter took that time to look through the pictures he had taken already, instantly deleting a few shots that should never see the light of day because of angles or lighting issues.

To his surprise it was MJ who got on stage with the envelope that held the end results, the cheering made it pretty obvious that some of the clientele were fans of her work as an actress and model. 

MJ cheerfully called the contestants back on the stage as she moved alongside them with a flair that seemed unique to her. The contestants looked nervous - well most of them did - some appeared perfectly calm while others looked almost green underneath their make-up.

Peter took pictures as MJ announced the winner as a performer under the name Wanda. The final performer of the night, the one who had been catching his eye all night came forward with a shocked expression on their face - they had been one of the calm ones. 

They sank through their knees a little so MJ could drape the sash around them, as well as place the tiara on their head. Wanda smiled and thanked everyone time and time again, while Peter took a bunch more pictures pretty much circling the stage until MJ said his name. 

He blinked a few times as he pulled up the faint memory of the rest of that sentence, puzzle pieces fell together as he remembered hearing the word “date”. MJ making him dress up nice instead of his usual work clothes, digging up those black sneakers he never wore because they were expensive and he didn’t want to ruin them, keeping them for special occasions he never actually wore them to. The mystery price that made the owner and MJ giggle conspiringly when he half curiously asked about it. 

So spending the rest of the night with him was that mystery prize… Well, it could have been worse, ‘Wanda’ seemed interesting enough, they might have a nice talk and maybe he’d have a new friend by the end of the night. MJ however was going to pay for it, he shouldn’t have told her about his doubts before he was ready. 

Peter smiled at the winner in a gentle manner as he let his camera hang from his neck. This was something he had done for MJ a thousand times, walking to the edge of the stage, reaching for their hand as he guided them down. It was a first for the hand to be bigger than his, for the person being a head taller than him as well and now that he saw Wanda up close he realized they were actually rather muscular under the dress - and that was a rather big understatement.

The crowd clapped and cheered at the end of the show and the other performers dispersed - some of them hitting the bar still in drag, others disappearing in the backroom to change back into their normal clothing. 

“Hi, I am Peter and apparently your date for the night?” 

“From the surprised look you had earlier baby boy, I suspect you got set up?”

Peter guided Wanda to his table letting them sit on  MJ’s chair as some form of childish payback. He was doing his best not to come off as awkward, but his middle name would probably be awkward if it hadn't already been Benjamin.

“Yeah, well meaning friends trying to push you in the ‘right’ direction can cause a setup apparently. However it does give me an excuse to talk to you, so I guess I can't really be mad about it.”

A laugh bubbled up from Wanda at that as Peter spoke while throwing a sideways glare at MJ who was sitting at the bar. Wanda gave him an understanding nod when he turned his attention back to them. A waitress already reached their table before they could have really thought about a drink announcing that they both were drinking on the house.

“I’ll have a cosmo hon.”

“Just another coke for me is fine thanks.” Peter smiled awkwardly at the waitress feeling a bit less sure of himself now that the line of conversation had been broken. Shooting an other annoyed glare at MJ before looking back at Wanda, he instantly noticed they looked nervous as well.

“You don't drink?”

“Rarely, I do dare drink every now and then at home…”

“That almost sounds like an invitation.” that same bubbly laugh followed those words as Peter felt his cheeks glow with a deep blush. This time he was grateful for the waitress’ interruption as she placed their drinks on the table.

He took a gulp of his cola as he attempted, unsuccessfully, to hide his blush. Wanda on the other hand sipped from the cocktail while watching Peter over the edge of their glass. Peter couldn’t help but feel captivated by those blue eyes, causing him to drop his cola spilling it on the table and his pants. 

He cursed instantly at that and he swore he could MJ sight at his awkward clumsiness, even though she was pretty damn far away. Wanda pulled out some tissues they placed on the cola stain on the table to avoid it from spreading to their clothing and Peter excused himself hurriedly.

In the bathroom Peter cursed loudly as he tried to dry his pants with toilet paper, grumbling at his own annoying clumsy nature.  _ “Way to go Parker, fumbling baboon…”  _ he scolded himself as he leant on the sink after trying to dry his crotch and thighs in vain. He found himself glaring at his reflection before glancing at the bathroom window, wondering if he could simply escape through there.  _ “Don’t be a coward, talk to them… try and pretend you’re at least a little cool.”  _ the voice in his head grumbled at him, but it was way easier said than done.

When he finally regained a bit of composure he made his way back to the table, but not before throwing MJ yet another glare as well as a mouthed “help me”, but she just smiled and turned back to her drink.

“So, why drag queen acts?” Peter asked the moment he reached his seat again, inwardly scolding himself for what probably had been a rude question. He was genuinely curious about the answer and it diverted the conversation away from the earlier remark. His hands finding the fresh cola glass as he noted the table had been cleaned up in his absence. 

“Well I always liked dressing up like this, so when I came back home after my service, I needed something fun to do. I found this to be something, other than watching television all day, that I enjoyed doing.” the answer came after a thoughtful silence, the way they spoke told Peter they were hesitant to talk about it, he shouldn’t push it, but damn his curiosity.

“Is that where you got the burns? During your service?” 

“You noticed them hu? Yeah… I got those on my last trip to the front lines…” 

“Must have been a big change for you…”

“Yeah, this helps my confidence as well.” 

“Glad to hear. I could show you some of the pictures I took if you like… You looked great out there.”

He didn’t have to look up from picking up his camera to know Wanda had responded to his invitation because he immediately heard the scraping of their chair. When he reached the series of pictures from their part of the show he felt their breath hit his shoulder as she leant close to look. 

If Wanda noticed the blush on his face, they didn’t let it show, however when Peter glanced aside he could see a soft smile on their face as they looked at those pictures with a proud look in their eyes.

“You’re very good, these pictures are amazing…”

“Thank you, I mostly take news pictures though.” 

He could feel Wanda pull back when they reached the end of the pictures so he put the camera back down and glanced aside just on time to see them finish the last of her cocktail. 

“I am going the change out of this now, I’d hate to ruin the dress by spilling on it.” 

“Sure, I’ll be here.” 

Peter bit his lip as he watched them walk away to the changing area, his fingers playing with his glass of cola absently as he wondered what they could talk about when they came back, he nearly squeaked when MJ grasped his shoulders from behind.

“Having fun Pete?”

“They’re nice, but I am still gonna kill you for it.”

“Why are you complaining? I saw the way you looked at them during the show.”

“Shut up…”

“You’d never have talked to anyone here if I hadn’t done it, you always freeze in an internal struggle whenever you see someone you like.” 

“You should have let me decide my own pace though…”

“Just enjoy it Pete, you’re clearly having a great time with him…”

Peter wanted to tell her that it didn’t matter, that he wasn’t really happy with being pimped off like this, but MJ already had walked away again, disappearing in the crowd. Before he could do anything else though he heard the chair at his table being pulled back slightly, so he turned back to the table.

There was a man, same build as Wanda had been, but this man was sitting more huddled together, hiding nearly completely in a black and red hoodie, wearing some worn out jeans as well from the looks of it. 

“Hi again…”

“Hi again Peter, my name is Wade by the way…” 

Peter could hear the hesitation thick in the voice of his now mostly hidden from view companion. The complete shift in confidence threw Peter slightly off but he didn’t want to stop talking to Wanda or Wade, so he leant forward slightly.

“Why are you hiding from me?”

“Most people don’t really enjoy looking at me...I don’t want you to freak out…”

Peter frowned slightly at those words and put his hand on Wade’s hand that rested on the table near his empty glass. He honestly had no idea what to say to that, he wanted to say he wouldn’t freak out or startle, but he had no idea what he would see.

“You know… I can’t promise I wouldn’t react shocked… but I can promise I enjoy your company no matter what you look like…” 

Peter kept his eyes on the hood that obscured his company from him, he was curious why Wade was so shy all of a sudden, but he didn’t want to push the man either. However before Peter could say anything else to break the silence that lasted a few minutes Wade turned to face him.

Peter could see burn scars on one half of the man’s face, gleaming with their soft shiney red on his pale skin, but what he could see beyond that was the fear of being rejected in those bright blue eyes.

“Well, those look like they would have hurt a lot, but… it’s not that fear inducing that I would want to freak out and run away, it’s just burn scars…” 

“Yeah, but not something a pretty boy like you wou-”

“You think I am that shallow?”

“You’re a photographer, you run with models… You are here with Mary-Jane Watson for crying out loud…” 

Peter snorted at Wade’s reasoning, a slight blush creeping up on him when he realized Wade had called him a pretty boy, and not in an insulting way like his childhood bully Flash had done. Somehow he didn’t mind being called a pretty boy in this way.

“I am a childhood friend of MJ… if I am with someone, be it friend or something else it is never about looks, it’s about who they are as a person…”

“...Aaah then I better go, cuz that’s just as ba-”

“Let ME be the judge of that please…” 

Peter watched Wade freeze in the middle of his motion to get up as Peter had said those words and glanced back aside at him nervously. Somehow Wade looked more nervous now than he had ever done on the stage as Wanda. 

“...O-okay…”

Peter smiled weakly as Wade sat down again, ordering them both another drink to give the silence a reason. He wanted to break the silence but he had no idea what he could say, where would common ground lay for him and this man.

He looked up at Wade to try and figure out anything they could talk about when he saw Wade move along on the intro of “Toxic” by Britney Spears that had just came on. Now, Britney had always been a guilty pleasure of Peter’s, but then, who didn’t like Britney right?

“Baby, can't you see

I'm calling

A guy like you should wear a warning

It's dangerous

I'm falling”

Peter sang those words silently, perfectly along as he watched Wade’s eyes snap open at that. It took only a few seconds for  their eyes to meet before they sang along together, giggling when the song finished. They both had a blush on their face and they were laughing a little too hard as the earlier tension found it’s way out of their system. 

“Say, Baby boy… how about I give you my number… you don’t have to call, but maybe… we could have an actual date where your friend isn’t spying on us the entire time?” 

“Sounds like a plan Wade.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Got several more commissions to go, but all of them are in progress, I just write on the one I have inspiration for atm, so thanks for being patient with me.


End file.
